title: Leptomyxid ameba, a new agent of amebic meningoencephalitis in humans and animals.
abstract: Amebae belonging to the order Leptomyxida are regarded as innocuous soil organisms incapable of infecting mammals. We report here the isolation of a leptomyxid ameba from the brain of a pregnant baboon (Papio sphinx) that died of meningoencephalitis at the San Diego Zoo Wild Animal Park. By using rabbit anti-leptomyxid serum in the immunofluorescence assay, we have identified the leptomyxid ameba in the brain sections of a number of human encephalitic cases from around the world as well as a few cases of meningoencephalitis in animals in the United States, which suggests that the leptomyxid amebae are potential etiologic agents of fatal meningoencephalitis in humans and animals.
authors.affiliation: Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, Georgia 30333.
authors.forename: G S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Visvesvara
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Martinez
authors.forename: F L
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Schuster
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Leitch
authors.forename: S V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Wallace
authors.forename: T K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Sawyer
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Anderson
mesh_terms: D000562:Amebiasis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary; D000656:Amoeba / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D000818:Animals; D000836:Animals, Zoo; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008590:Meningoencephalitis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary; D010215:Papio; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000662:veterinary